The prank they got in trouble for
by Dolphin4444wssc
Summary: The last thing Minerva McGonagall expects to happen on that Summer afternoon is for her to get sand in her face. Only James Potter and Sirius Black could be behind this. One-shot.


**McGonagall POV**

It was a nice sunny day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so Minerva McGonagall decided to take advantage of the fact that it was a weekend and take a nice stroll around Hogwarts ground. She did not, however, anticipate the fact that it would be this breezy, so was starting to get quite cold.

After about half an hour, McGonagall started to notice the wind pick up a bit, so decided to head inside to at least get a cloak to put on. As she started to head back up to the castle, she was suddenly caught in the face with something that you would not expect to find in a British Summer – sand.

Minerva looked up to the find the source of the sand and saw that it was coming from one of the towers. To be precise, the Gryffindor tower. _Why do I not find this surprising? _McGonagall thought to herself. _Oh, I know why. This has James and Sirius written all over it._ And so, she headed up to Gryffindor tower, and to the now evident screams coming from it.

* * *

**James POV**

James Potter and Sirius Black were having a good day. They had played an excellent game of dares, and James had just managed to complete one of the harder dares in style by pranking the whole of Gryffindor tower.

Well, they were having a good day, until a certain fuming redhead came storming up to them.

"Lily! To what do we owe the pleasure?" James asked jovially.

"James Potter I demand you to take this charm off at once!"

"Hang on Lily, you forgot me; after all, I came up with the idea." Sirius butted in.

"I don't care which one of you did this or who's idea it was! You are fifth years, for goodness sakes, you should know better. Just clear it up or I swear I will get Professor McGonagall!"

"I think it's a bit late for that, Miss Evans." The three teenagers spun around to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway, trying not to sink in the patch of quicksand that she was standing in.

"Oh Merlin, we are in trouble, Padfoot."

* * *

**McGonagall POV**

McGonagall surveyed the scene of chaos that was surrounding her. The whole common room was a desert, with furniture half-sunk in patches of quicksand that were dotted around the place. She had to admit, the prankster were definitely improving. There was a lot of skill required to make a desert like this. Minerva made a note to never underestimate them again – and to make them work harder in their lessons. She muttered a quick incantation and waved her wand and the desert disappeared.

"Potter! Black! Follow me!" McGonagall shouted and left the room, closely followed by James and Sirius, who were looking guilty, but still very pleased with themselves (if that was even possible). Minerva walked down the halls at a quick pace, not stopping until she reached her office, at which point she turned on James and Sirius, who had sat down in their normal chairs.

"So,"

"Hey, Minnie… how's it going?"

"Potter if you call me that one more time I will take 50 points from Gryffindor and confiscate your broomstick for a week." James gulped and sat back in his seat, trembling ever so slightly."

"Now, I want to know exactly what happened and why you decided to turn your common room into a desert."

James started. "Well, it was a Saturday, we were bored, so we decided to play dares."

"We will spare you the details of the other dares, but after about two hours, I dared James to turn part of the school into a desert."

"It was a pretty hard task to achieve, but I decided on the Gryffindor common room, did a bit of Hocus Pocus and BAM! There was a desert in the common room."

"Personally, I thought that the quicksand was a stroke of Genius. I think that you should cherish that moment, James."

McGonagall cut in. "You should cherish that moment. Strokes of genius from you are few and far between. Unfortunately, that stroke of genius has cost 40 points from Gryffindor, congratulations. Personally, I also think that Professor Dumbledore will want to hear of this; he can decide on suitable detention for you two."

The two students and the professor walked out of the office and headed up to Dumbledore's office. When they arrived, Professor Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, and smiled when he saw them walk in.

"Mister Potter and Mister Black, have your seat." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. James and Sirius sat in the seats specially reserved for them and waited for the headmaster to begin speaking to them.

"At this point, I would usually give you 'The Lecture,' but considering last time you fell asleep in the middle of it, I will save you the torture of listening to it again. I think that by now, you know it by heart, anyway."

"Thank you sir,"

"However, I would like to know what happened, as it has been rather dull recently. It's good to have some entertainment once in a while."

So, James and Sirius started from the beginning, explaining the whole dare game and the prank.

"Well, I have to say, quite inventive, quicksand." Chuckled Dumbledore, "However, you will have to be punished for this. What did you give them, Minerva?"

"Minus forty points and a detention, Professor Dumbledore."

"Well, I think that's a bit harsh, don't you? I will give you five points each for creativity. Your detention will be helping Madam Pince sort out library files. Mister Potter on Wednesday and Mister Black on Thursday. I think that sounds fair, don't you?"

"Very fair sir, thank you." James replied.

"I think you should go now, don't you have studying to do?"

"Yes, sir." Sirius answered as they hurried out of Dumbledore's office, much to the shock of Professor McGonagall.

"Come now, Minerva," Dumbledore said, "That was a bit harsh, don't you think? After all it was only a harmless prank."

McGonagall just sighed. "I will never understand you, Albus."

**A/N: Written for season 2 round 2 of the Quidditch League FanFiction competition. Prompts were 'breezy' and 'quicksand'. Disclaimer: I own nothing! All rights go to J.K. Rowling!**


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